diff --git a/xarray/core/merge.py b/xarray/core/merge.py
index 10c7804d..541ee0d5 100644
--- a/xarray/core/merge.py
+++ b/xarray/core/merge.py
@@ -848,6 +848,9 @@ def dataset_update_method(
     from .dataarray import DataArray
     from .dataset import Dataset
 
+    if isinstance(other, DataArray):
+        other = other.to_dataset()
+
     if not isinstance(other, Dataset):
         other = dict(other)
         for key, value in other.items():
